Crossword SNITCH

A quantitative guide to the degree of difficulty of the Times Cryptic Crossword

Times Cryptic Crossword 28514

Date 31 January 2023
Number 28514
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 84
Count of ref solvers 71
Ref solvers excluded with errors 5
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28514

* Requires access to the Times Crossword Club

Detailed solving results

Reference, Tracked and Blog solvers with error-free solutions to this puzzle are shown below.

We also show the solver's Personal NITCH, which is their result on this puzzle compared to their average time, and the Wavelength Index of Times Cryptic Hardness, the WITCH, which is the Personal NITCH compared to the SNITCH.

Name TfTT Name Average time This time Personal NITCH WITCH
mohn mohn2 04:19 04:07 95 113
Nathan Panning 05:54 05:07 86 102
Magoo 06:18 04:39 73 86
Diskus 07:03 05:54 83 98
mistigris 07:08 05:04 71 84
verlaine Verlaine 07:09 04:51 67 79
lili 07:22 04:55 66 78
aphis99 aphis99 07:45 07:45 100 119
Paul Gilbert 07:53 04:27 56 66
edwards.robert1 08:02 13:21 166 197
richard 08:18 06:01 72 85
asaldanha 08:57 07:58 89 105
boulemiche 09:38 08:14 85 101
chindit 09:45 06:55 70 83
AlanS 10:12 09:01 88 104
glheard glh 10:26 14:29 138 164
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:30 07:49 74 88
scrabbler 10:39 09:56 93 110
Kinghedger 10:46 09:40 89 105
lickert 10:59 10:04 91 108
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:03 10:54 98 116
Heyesey 11:07 15:11 136 161
xyster 11:08 08:32 76 90
keriothe_ keriothe 11:12 06:14 55 65
andy 11:25 14:45 129 153
fshephe 11:58 11:29 95 113
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:02 09:56 82 97
markdobell 12:13 07:21 60 71
neilr neilr 12:15 11:07 90 107
tilbee 12:16 12:25 101 120
HenryBW 12:22 11:18 91 108
fuzz 12:24 10:31 84 100
Deane Short Deane Short 12:29 07:54 63 75
Sheapey Sheapey 12:32 10:13 81 96
Silva 12:32 13:34 108 128
Stavros Stavrolex 12:39 08:56 70 83
John Walsh 12:48 15:55 124 147
David Crooks dcrooks 12:49 13:33 105 125
March (JeffCollins) mch1 12:49 11:49 92 109
canismiser 12:54 16:14 125 148
Finzi 13:20 09:38 72 85
SimonAnthony 13:23 16:56 126 150
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:26 11:20 84 100
JezWoolfrey 14:01 16:13 115 136
jamesah 14:07 12:29 88 104
Peponi13 14:11 14:03 99 117
Paul Bacon 14:17 14:32 101 120
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 14:24 15:07 104 123
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 14:25 13:20 92 109
LouWeed LouWeed 14:45 09:23 63 75
Achernar 14:56 14:49 99 117
Crucifer Crucifer 15:00 09:16 61 72
Tibthorpe 15:05 18:31 122 145
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 15:13 10:34 69 82
annelambirth 15:45 19:03 120 142
Semillon 15:47 13:50 87 103
Ease This Jam 15:54 14:56 93 110
phthisis 15:55 16:16 102 121
john.marshall 15:57 12:08 76 90
Pootle Pootle 15:59 14:18 89 105
CentralLine CentralLine 16:05 15:01 93 110
Looch 16:06 14:53 92 109
Squallaby 16:29 11:16 68 80
MK76 16:40 11:26 68 80
Craven 16:40 17:21 104 123
andrewlake 16:59 15:09 89 105
DunPangolin 17:00 17:12 101 120
robinh 17:03 11:45 68 80
Valance 17:04 16:49 98 116
wyn.dil 17:09 20:22 118 140
LJCN 17:22 13:23 77 91
Eddddddd 17:40 25:56 146 173
Crossiant 17:49 16:38 93 110
GMcD 18:01 16:50 93 110
ajcauk1 18:02 16:36 92 109
george.plumbly 18:07 10:40 58 69
uvofiz 18:13 19:40 107 127
endafk 18:31 25:46 139 165
pterodactyl 18:58 16:36 87 103
Zander 19:04 12:15 64 76
cyrillic 19:05 16:42 87 103
PGooden 19:18 12:42 65 77
monkfish 19:19 17:15 89 105
jaraab 19:29 24:24 125 148
Hamish.S 19:32 22:49 116 138
Andrew Whiffin 19:51 16:04 80 95
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:25 15:31 76 90
pc8 20:45 22:27 108 128
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 20:47 20:18 97 115
BlackburnRover 21:03 12:32 59 70
barracuda barracuda 21:35 22:10 102 121
crosswordian 21:42 19:09 88 104
James P Special_bitter 21:53 20:04 91 108
george.garlick 21:53 24:53 113 134
npweston 22:12 17:45 79 94
LeyGal 22:12 15:56 71 84
goblin 22:37 19:58 88 104
DanSolo 23:24 14:39 62 73
1234 23:46 20:03 84 100
david_ch 23:46 27:50 117 139
Edprof 24:10 17:29 72 85
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 24:13 15:27 63 75
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:32 18:15 74 88
Tudds 24:56 24:43 99 117
Rowleyrag 25:14 28:00 110 130
Curarist Curarist 25:17 12:28 49 58
chris661554 25:41 23:07 90 107
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 25:47 19:19 74 88
medodd 25:48 22:39 87 103
Mkgnao Mkgnao 26:14 25:08 95 113
Pauline Minter 26:41 23:30 88 104
Yatton50 28:17 38:52 137 163
nekabue 28:29 19:02 66 78
99evers 28:55 17:40 61 72
Mike Harper Mike Harper 29:10 27:56 95 113
Jeeves 29:41 17:43 59 70
infinitejest 29:52 32:52 110 130
JoeyC 30:33 25:46 84 100
rosselliot 30:40 24:57 81 96
Manveru 31:07 20:50 66 78
gbestanley 31:35 33:05 104 123
boltonwanderer 31:59 30:00 93 110
HanS 35:11 44:49 127 151
starstruck starstruck_au 36:26 47:29 130 154
marp 37:25 27:55 74 88
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 37:27 44:07 117 139
dosbarth 39:14 40:12 102 121
kapietro kapietro 41:40 23:26 56 66
alexngbr 43:07 34:05 79 94
MartinP MartinP1 43:37 31:53 73 86
paulmcl paulmcl 43:54 36:12 82 97
algyw 44:10 37:20 84 100
Steve Wood 52:41 40:46 77 91
Cryptique 53:49 10:21 19 22
TonyK 54:27 48:03 88 104
Masha 56:51 52:45 92 109

A guide to the solver status

Legend
 Reference solver used for SNITCH
 Other Reference solver
 Tracked solver
 Blog solver

Blog Solvers

Blog Solvers are those who have allowed their times to be taken from the Times for the Times blog.

Notes for Blog Solvers:

  • the most reliable format for reporting times is with format "mm:ss" or as "x minutes" in the title or at the start of the entry
  • only the first main comment for each blogger is used; responses to other comments or a second comment is ignored
  • to report errors, include "n errors" just after the time
  • If you just have a time it is assumed you have no errors unless you mention DNF or pink squares or giving up, etc, in the text
  • Examples of good time notifications are "38:30, 0 errors" and "39 minutes, 0 errors" in the comment title or as the first part of your comment

Notes

The definition of Reference and Tracked solvers is described on the Neutrinos page.

The results for Reference solvers are normally used to calcuate the SNITCH. When this happens they are shown in the list with a solid blue line to the left. In the previous SNITCH results listing for each crossword, these were the only entries shown.

The most common causes for Reference solver results not to be used are: (a) that they did not meet the criteria this month to be used as a reference (e.g. they may not have completed enough puzzles on each day of the week) or (b) they have been pushed out of the top 100 on the leader board. In these cases, the results are now shown, but their data is not used for the SNITCH calculation.

Where there is data for Tracked solvers, I show them also in this table. The solving data is not always available, as the Crossword Club site only shows the top 100 solvers to everyone. Logged-in users get their own leaderboard position and those around them, but this is not available to everyone. So the SNITCH site only gets data for those who have made the top 100 in the leaderboard at some point during the day.

As a result there are a few geographically advantaged solvers; those of us who solve early in the day (e.g. we in the Antipodes, those in Asia and those staying up late in North America) are more likely to hit the leaderboard even with slower times. Solvers who are just as capable but solve later in the UK day might not make the top 100 and I have no way to capture their results.

You may wonder why there are Tracked solvers (in red) with low average solving times, mixed in with the Reference solvers (in blue). These are usually those that, while they don't seem to be Neutrinos, are not well aligned to the SNITCH. So I don't use them as Reference solvers in the SNITCH calculation, but still show their overall results.

You might also notice that there's some inconsistency at the tail end of the Reference solver list. My cutoff point is an average solving time of 45 minutes. But if someone around this mark is chosen as a Reference solver, their next month's results might end up being over 45 minutes and they will still be used. Alternatively, a Tracked solver might creep in under 45 minutes on the next calculation, but didn't make the cut for the prior Reference list. It's on the to-do list to see if I can make this a bit more predictable.

Stored SNITCH Values

Here are the SNITCH values (stored on the day) from the crossword.

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